Sustaining and Defending the LDS Temple

brigham young

It is incredibly difficult to define. Wikipedia defines it as the “pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, instinct or insight.” What? By combining all possible definitions into one, they have created an incomprehensible one.

Let’s turn to some closer associates. Hugh Nibley once defined it, quoting Eduard Lehmann, as “an intuitive and ecstatic union with the deity obtained by means of contemplation and other mental exercises.” Professor William Hamblin turns to oft-repeated definitions such as “a domain of religion that deals with the search for and the attainment of a profound experiential knowledge of God or of ultimate reality,” or, “mysticism is … a type of religious experience which involves a sense of union or merging with either God or an all-pervading spiritual force in the universe,” but finds even these lacking. In Kevin Christensen’s recent Interpreter review of Margarget Barker’s book Temple Mysticism: An Introduction he indicated that his “favorite LDS approach” to the topic has become Mark E. Koltko’s essay “Mysticism and Mormonism: An LDS Perspective on Transcendence and Higher Consciousness,” found in the April 1989 issue of Sunstone. We’ll come back to this shortly. Christensen notes that while Nibley’s view tends to be the more conventional definition, Margaret Barker’s own use of the term in her book is very different still, focusing on the experience of “seeing the Lord,” i.e. a temple theophany. While different, there is clearly overlap between the ideas of “a union with deity,” and “seeing God,” as Matthew Bowen also elucidates in his recent article in Interpreter. Koltko’s essay also perhaps helps bridge the gap. [Read more…]

And let every man deal honestly, and be alike among this people, and receive alike, that ye may be one, even as I have commanded you. (D&C 51:9)

Brigham Young taught that honesty preceded Zion, and that when this was achieved by the Saints, there would be “no poor among [us]” (Moses 7:18).

“We need to learn, practice, study, know and understand how angels live with each other. When this community comes to the point to be perfectly honest and upright, you will never find a poor person; none will lack, all with have sufficient. Every man, woman, and child will have all they need just as soon as they all become honest. When the majority of the community are dishonest, it maketh the honest portion poor, for the dishonest serve and enrich themselves at their expense.” (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 232)

This reminds me of D&C 105:5, “And Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom; otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself.”

The Lord asks us to be honest in our dealings with our fellowmen, that we might build up Zion.

Professor Daniel C. Peterson wrote a column in the Deseret News today about temples. In particular, he focuses on how temples have anciently been revealed through prophets of God, and how that pattern continues in these latter days. Examples include:

Peterson concludes, “Temples are a central element in the restoration of all things, and, often even in the details of their origins, they represent powerful evidence for the divine calling of Joseph Smith and his successors.”

The following was written in response to a comment by “nate” on a post at Millennial Star which discussed the merits of the new film Les Misérables. In summary, the commenter claimed that art is “just art,” and in the end is escapism, overrated, simple entertainment, will not change your life (no matter how great or inspiring it is), won’t have long term influence on your soul, is overblown, is an addiction, is short-lived, no matter how seemingly life-changing it is dangerous, an idol, a quick fix, a drug, not “real life” or a part of our “real world,” and a distraction. I thought such condemnation of art called for a reply.

Allow me to resuscitate art for a moment (as if it needs it).

Art is not simply entertainment. It’s not simply art. It’s not simply escapism. And it is certainly not simply a drug.

This is a follow-up to “The Age of the Earth” post, although I suppose that one was really laying the groundwork for this one. This is where everything comes to a head (like the one shown here). Was there death before the Fall of Adam and Eve? It is a very delicate question, because there are very strong feelings on many sides of the issue, some of which may have tremendous gospel implications as well. So here we will tread lightly, and attempt to not make any dogmatic conclusions. I’m not sure I have any besides. These are simply some first impressions on the subject. Because that is the case, we will ask more questions here than we attempt to answer in any substantial way.

This is a point of presumed doctrine in LDS belief that causes consternation for many members. Similar to the age of the Earth question, it causes cognitive dissonance for some, insofar that some even lose their faith in the Church, and even leave the Church. I perceive that this should not be. There are answers, even if preliminary, to most of these difficult questions. It should also be noted that questions such as these are not necessarily central to the gospel, nor to our salvation, but they do affect some people’s ability to function in the Church because of the cognitive dissonance it causes them.

The belief, as I introduced above, is that there was no death before the Fall of Adam and Eve. No death, period. On the other hand, the world and its legions of scientists of all stripes inform us that there were dinosaurs, dating back 230 million years, with bones scattered in all parts of the world (one of the largest caches is located right here in Vernal, Utah). There were trilobites, perhaps the most common fossil, dating back 526 million years (again, one of the richest quarries is just west of Delta, Utah, where you can actually “farm” for trilobites to take home.) There were ancient forests, plant life, zooplankton, and algae, dating back millions of year, which helped give us the crude oil that powers much of our world today. There are even bones of hominids that used stone tools that most scientists concur died a couple million years ago. Indeed, there are even bones of anatomically modern humans that have been dated to up to 200,000 years old (see the image above). [Read more…]

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